


Dark Swan

by QueenyB



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: Adventure, Ahiru/Duck - Freeform, F/M, Fakir - Freeform, Fantasy, Princess Tutu - Freeform, Romance, Rue - Freeform, mytho - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 18:50:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20068855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenyB/pseuds/QueenyB
Summary: Everyone in the world is born alone, but through their life they meet their spirit animals, one for eternal companionship, and one for their eventual fate. It is unknown which is which, but the creatures are always different. When young Mytho is sixteen, he discovers that a swan, symbol of love and loyalty, is both his companion spirit and his fate spirit.





	Dark Swan

_ Dark Swan _

Chapter 1

_ Rap rap rap. _

Katze roused himself and stood with a long stretch and a wide yawn. 

_ Rap rap rap. _

“I’m coming,” he called. He ran a hand through his greying purple hair and pulled on a robe. He padded to the large wooden door and wrestled it open. He didn’t see anything. 

“Hello?” he called. 

No answer. 

He looked up and down the dirt road that ran past the monastery, but no one was there. 

Suddenly, a creature hiccuped from the alcove. Katze looked down to see an infant swaddled in a yellow blanket. He stooped down to pick it up, and saw that the child had snow-white hair and golden eyes. He wondered why anyone would leave such a pretty child at his door. 

“No matter,” he muttered to himself, turning to close the door. “Let’s see, you will need a name… What’s a good name for a… boy?” 

The child yawned and smacked his lips. 

Katze snapped his fingers. “Oh! I know. I hereby dub thee Mytho! How is that?” 

The baby squinted his eyes as his stomach rumbled. 

“Ahh. I wonder if we have milk in the kitchen,” the man replied. He trundled down the back staircase and placed the baby in a wool basket that was sitting in a corner. One of the kitchen aids had recently had a child, and the basket was kept in the room for the babe to sleep in during the day. He opened the cellar and carefully walked down the narrow stairs to find a jar of milk. 

Before long, he had a bottle prepped for the new child and was humming softly, if off-key. 

“Welcome to the family, Mytho,” he said, smiling softly. 

#

Katze placed Mytho with the infant class of the Foundling Order. The Order existed to give families to children who had otherwise been abandoned. It was housed in an old stone monastery with large stained-glass windows and arched doorways. It was a little drafty in winter, but otherwise an ideal place to raise dozens of children. 

Mytho quickly grew into a bright, if shy, child and when he was six years old his first spirit appeared. He had been playing by the lake when a snow-white swan paddled over and bowed his head to the child. The two stumbled back into the monastery soaking wet, but happy, and with a swan-shaped birthmark upon his bicep.

His teachers thought it meant he was destined for a great life with a deep, resonating love. 

#

“Where did she come from?” Mytho asked, golden eyes staring at a little yellow duckling. 

Fakir, a young man with dark hair and a complexion similar to that of wet sand, set the creature in a wooden crate. He placed a bowl of seeds inside and leaned back, balancing his weight on the balls of his feet. 

“I found her wandering near the lake favoring her right leg. I think she’s someone’s spirit animal.” He clenched his fist. “I swear if someone hurt her or abandoned her, I’ll…” he trailed off. 

Mytho patted his shoulder. His swan, whom he affectionately named Cobham, stuck his nose into the box and nudged the duckling. 

“I’m sure she just got lost,” he assured his friend. 

Fakir grunted in response. 

Athen, Fakir’s screech owl, flew over and landed on his head. The teenager glanced up, seemingly irritated by the sudden weight on his head, but Mytho knew that he didn’t mind. Fakir had his own shed on the property specifically because he was always picking up stray animals, spirits and non-spirits, and taking care of them. Katze had cleared the space shortly after Fakir had walked a fox and a doe through the monastery during classes while he was running an errand for his father. 

“Would you like me to go to town and ask if anyone is missing a duck?” Mytho offered. 

“No,” Fakir stated. “I want to make sure she is healed up first, but we can still go to town. I wanted to look at some new pens.” 

Mytho nodded. Who knows, they may even run across the person missing the duck and be able to tell them that she is fine. He would certainly want someone to do the same for him if Cobham were injured and missing.

The town square was bustling with early afternoon activity. Shopkeeps were standing in the street, hawking their wares. A troupe of travelling performers had taken up residence near the great fountain and begun juggling and flipping about. 

“Have you seen my duck?!” a frantic voice rang across the square as a girl darted from person to person, asking her question. Her bright red braid trailed behind her as she ran. “Please, have you seen a duck?”

Mytho raised his hand to wave her over. 

“What are you doing?” Fakir asked. 

“Wouldn’t you want someone to tell you if they’d found Athen?” 

Fakir pondered for a moment before nodding. 

The girl stopped in front of them, huffing loudly. 

“Do you… know where… my duck is?” 

“I found an injured duck earlier,” Fakir responded coldly. “What does yours look like?” 

Her eyes grew wide at the mention of the injury. “Is she okay? Um… Ahh… She’s really small, practically a baby, with bright yellow feathers.” 

Mytho smiled, hoping to calm her. “She’s fine. She’s back at our home.” 

“And she’s not leaving until she’s better,” Fakir stated, practically daring her to argue. 

The girl puffed her cheeks. “Fine… but can I come and see her?” 

Fakir nodded. “Of course. I’m not heartless.” 

“Just ironically hopeless at communicating,” Mytho responded. 

His friend glared at him. “I communicate just fine.”

“With animals.” 

Fakir sighed and returned to the subject. “We have to go to the artisan supplies shop. We can take you to your spirit after.” 

The girl's eyes lit up.

“Antis,” she said. 

“Hmm?”

“His name.”

“Okay. And yours?” 

“Ahiru.” 

Fakir cocked an eyebrow. “You’re both named ‘duck?’” 

She blushed and rubbed her head. “Yeah…” 

Fakir proceeded to usher them toward the shop while Mytho finished the introductions. Mytho decided to wait outside with Ahiru while Fakir ran inside to get his pens, and probably some paper and who knows what else. Mytho watched the girl bounce on her feet and fidget. 

“Umm… do you normally not bring your spirits with you when you leave the house?” she asked. 

Mytho tilted his head. He supposed it was strange for Cobham and Athen to be left behind, most people in the town tried to keep their spirits with them. It was just more pragmatic to leave them in the barn than to worry about them wandering through town. Well, Cobham anyway, Athen slept for most of the day. 

“Hmm… My swan didn’t want to leave the injured duck, so I didn’t bother trying to make him follow, and Fakir’s screech owl usually watches the barn,” he responded. 

Her eyes glittered, it was quite flattering, he decided. 

“You have a swan?! Swans are so pretty.” 

“Cobham is quite pleasant to look at,” he relented. 

“Oh, sometimes I wish Antis had been a swan. Swans are graceful and beautiful,” Ahiru continued. “I would love to have a swan.” 

“Maybe your other spirit is a swan,” Mytho said. 

“Maybe…” Ahiru bit her lip. “But I doubt it, and even if it was, wouldn’t that mean I’d be destined for a tragic love?”

“Not necessarily. Swans are representative of more than just true love, like loyalty, strength, music, faith and so forth.” 

“Ohhhh! That’s amazing. You must be really smart to know all of that.”

“Not really. It’s pretty normal to know about your spirit animal. What do ducks symbolize?” 

“Umm… Community, living in the moment, clarity, self-expression, protection, that sort of thing. I’m not really sure if I would count that as me.” 

Mytho smiled. “I’m sure you’re underselling yourself.” 

Ahiru frowned, which caused Mytho to chuckle. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello~ Thank you so much for reading. This fic was inspired by a prompt that I found on Tumblr, and encouraged by the lovely people in the Kinkan Town Discord. It is also the first time I've tried publishing anything PT related, so let's see how this goes.   
Happy reading!


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